Having Never Heard

By
Paul O. Williams /
August 6, 1992

Having never heard these words, but reading them, and having decided privately on a pronunciation, how disappointing later for a hesitatnt boy to hear how everybody else in the world says them not nearly so musically nor with such authority. After all, an "enemy" who is "dreed" is obviously much worse than one merely "dred"; is that not so? But how pleasing to hear a word with a good sound, to repeat it over and over - "eolith, eolith"- and how pleasant the perfume the light wind carries on its shoulder from something called "alyssum" or how obviously vibrant and rich must "agopanthus" be.